THE ORVILLE S1, E10: "FIRESTORM"

[tafkats]

I thought the look at how Orville's holodecks (or whatever this universe calls them) function was interesting. Trek's holodecks create a reality that, for lack of a better word, actually "exists" as projections and replicated matter; it looks like Orville's may work more by acting on the individual's perceptions.

 

[FormerLurker]

They clearly said that her daughter is a little "slow" and they made a comparison with other "deficient people"...Yes, the parents are a-holes, but I don't think they are making a false testament (from their point of view) about Kitan. I mean, when she replied she said something about how military is an honorable career, and not "It's not true that I'm slow!"

So you have no experience with judgmental family telling you you're deficient when you know you're not. By the time you're an adult, you give up trying to correct them, and justify your own choices for your own reasons, and if they don't accept it, it's their problem. She has no reason to complain that they're categorizing her incorrectly, they wouldn't accept it anyway.

Their race isn't also "super strong" unless in a planetary environment the meets the "average." Xelaya has higher gravity than the average and one would need super strength to just stand on Xelaya. When Alara is not on her planet she's super-strong simply because she's operating in much lower gravity than she's used to.

(Granted, this wouldn't really give her the ability to mold titanium like it's clay and like with humans in lower gravity environments would have a number of health effects on her muscles and bones, but waving that away that's the reason why she's "super strong."))

She has demonstrated feats of strength that surpass human feats in Luna-style micro-gravity. The density of her musculature is probably enough that, like Superman, she can express comparative super-strength indefinitely without significant health effects.

The possibility also exists that the gravity in her quarters mimics that of her homeworld, to help her maintain the necessary gravitic pressure on her system to keep her healthy, and strong. We'll just have to see how, and if, they address this in the future.

 

[Mudd]

There's no point treating the fake science in Orville like the fake science in Trek. The former pretty thoroughly embraces comic book physics.

 

[The Wormhole]

I've been miscrediting this one - it was written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong.

I recognize that name, she wrote for Family Guy

Indeed. Also, David Goodman named a character after her in his just released Captain Picard autobiography.

Oh and since she mentioned having a "military career," how long will it be before Mercer says something about how "it's not a military?"

With this being the second time the Union Fleet has been described on screen as "the military" it seems very clear that everyone has settled on this organization being a military and they're sticking to it.

And not to drag That Argument into this, but I think it should be observed nonetheless that writers who are clearly Trek fans or even former Trek writers themselves, have created what is almost an exact duplicate of Starfleet with the only serious difference being its personnel admit their organization is military.

I joined at the end of the Berman and Braga reign but I have always liked Braga. He’s really honest and has written many good episodes.

Braga really isn't the bad writer everyone makes him out to be. Yes, he ran out of steam in Voyager's final couple of years, and his work on Enterprise at times left much to be desired, but a decent amount of fan favourite TNG episodes were written or co-written by him, and in the first half of Voyager he had some great story ideas. He's not perfect, and there are times where an episode of his has made me go "WTF is this?" but overall, his name attached to a show does not repel me at all.

Sooo.... Kitan's race is super-strong and super intelligent..?

Well, super strong is relative. They only have enhanced strength when they are in Earth standard gravity, which apparently the rest of the galaxy is. On their own homeworld, they probably aren't any less impressive than we are. Of course, were a human to visit that world, we'd probably be literally dragging our ass everywhere. But yes, it does appear higher than human average IQs seem to be the norm among them.

 

[Mudd]

But yes, it does appear higher than human average IQs seem to be the norm among them.

What's the evidence for that? Alara doesn't seem noticeably smarter than her shipmates, nor do her parents. Her father is simply an academic snob.

 

[The Wormhole]

Even better!

 

[Trekker4747]

What's the evidence for that? Alara doesn't seem noticeably smarter than her shipmates, nor do her parents.

That's exactly why. Her parents, both of them, speak about her/to her as if she's academically challenged in some manner and we've seen she's as bright as any of the human characters but since Alara is called "slow" and humans are seen as "the hillbillies of the galaxy" it's highly suggest the Xylaians have some academic prowess over humans so they see Alara as slow/deficient. (Again, even though to us she seems perfectly normal.)

 

[Mudd]

That's exactly why. Her parents, both of them, speak about her/to her as if she's academically challenged in some manner and we've seen she's as bright as any of the human characters but since Alara is called "slow" and humans are seen as "the hillbillies of the galaxy"

None of this indicates in any way that Xelayans are smarter than human beings.

It simply tells us some things about her father, none of which suggest that his intelligence is high:

• Nothing his daughter does is good enough for him;
• He's a snob and something of a bigot.

Alara got some bad grades in school, dropped out and went into the Navy. Her dad disapproves. This does not, even by implication, make her parents or her people super geniuses.

Alara is not "called slow." Her father calls her slow because she didn't do great in school. There's a big difference.

You know, if every judgemental father who thought poorly of the intelligence of one of his kids was actually brilliant himself we'd have warp drive already.

 

[DonIago]

^^That's what I walked away with. It's an interesting and not invalid possibility that we're seeing bias from her father here, and he certainly does seem a bit biased against humans, but my inclination is to believe that their race is, generally, smarter than humans.

 

[Salinga]

The lack of empathy from Alara's father shows, that he isn't so superior after all, but pretty idiotic. So it's less a matter of fact, but more the personal opinion of a narcissist.

 

[DonIago]

I think you're conflating intellectual intelligence with emotional intelligence.

 

[Skipper]

Alara doesn't seem noticeably smarter than her shipmates, nor do her parents.

Isn't that the point? She's no smarter than the hillbillies of the galaxy?

 

[Noname Given]

I was disappointed at the last commercial break and then delighted at the end - the twist that the whole thing was set up by Alara was marvelous. Saw anything but that coming.

And Halston Sage is fantastic.

Great episode.

Really? By the time they got to the rest of the crew being gone I figured:

- It's all in her mind (a result of the initial fire encounter and her mind coping with it)

- The Holodeck situation we got (But it was some sort of psych qualification test for a promotion and she wasn't aware of it being a test.)

The whole self induced (by her order and okayed by the Captain) amnesia bit was the only thing I didn't see as the explanation beforehand - and sorry, but that code 37 or whatever it was - how she slipped that past the Captain who had to okay all this was strange.

But yeah, another Trek trope episode that was okay.

 

[Mudd]

Isn't that the point? She's no smarter than the hillbillies of the galaxy?

No, the point is that Alara' s father is behaving no differently than a self-centered human parent who's trying to justify his narcissistic frustration with his kid's behavior and life choices. Trying to divine any further conclusions about Xelayans from his behavior is nonsensical.

I mean, this line of reasoning makes Red Forman into Einstein.

 

[DonIago]

I think either interpretation is potentially valid, and without more information about her race we can't draw any solid conclusions.

 

[Mr Awe]

This is wrong. Adding a few lines to a script would not require someone to get a writing credit for the episode. According to the WGA, for a production executive to go to arbitration to earn a writing credit:

"At the time of the credit arbitration, the production executive or production executive team must assume the burden of proving that he/she/ they had, in fact, worked on the script as a writer and had assumed full share of the writing. In the case of original screenplays, if the production executive or production executive team is the second writer he/she/ they must have contributed more than 50% of the final script to receive screenplay credit. His/her/their contribution must consist of dramatic construction; original and different scenes; characterization or character relationships; and dialogue."

Now, anyone can throw in an inside joke, and given that the credited writer is a long-time MacFarlane colleague, I assume that she can dish it out just as well as he. However, MacFarlane could have inserted the joke himself without ruining the bylines.

Well, if you have evidence of that, sure. Otherwise it's just unsubstantiated speculation. I'm just going by what the official credits say. No need to get so defensive!

 

[Kytee]

once again a wonderfully entertaining hour of television. I think I love the little moments of this show as much as the main stories.
-' Why even HAVE reservations' I laughed out loud. So self centered , oblivious to what is going on with other folks , so Human of him.
Bortus , Bortus, Bortus. Wow do I love me some Bortus His deadpan delivery nails it every time and really brings the humor to his lines. Yet he is not just comic relief. I think they do a great job of using him to represent a non-human way of thinking. two examples from this episode.
1) When the crazy doctor wanted pizza, all the humans didn't even consider fetching her favorite meal right after she killed someone in cold blood. Bortus didn't even consider NOT getting the pizza.
2) The crocodile scene. Again the first thought of all the humans was 'Where the heck did that come from' Bortus seemed to think the only relevant information was that he had crushed it with a chair. Laughed out loud again at that one.

The actress playing the doctor dialed the crazy up to 10 in an instant and made it feel natural; that came off as incredibly creepy, as intended . Really outstanding acting to watch. I always enjoyed her in DS9 , seeing her get an opportunity to stretch her acting legs a bit is a treat for sure.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Well, if you have evidence of that, sure. Otherwise it's just unsubstantiated speculation. I'm just going by what the official credits say. No need to get so defensive!

I don't care who specifically wrote the joke into the script. What you are asserting--that who wrote a specific line can be known by looking at the episode's byline--is simply not true.

 

[Mudd]

I don't care who specifically wrote the joke into the script. What you are asserting--that who wrote a specific line can be known by looking at the episode's byline--is simply not true.

Exactly so.

 

[Mr Awe]

I don't care who specifically wrote the joke into the script. What you are asserting--that who wrote a specific line can be known by looking at the episode's byline--is simply not true.

You don't know jack about who wrote it beyond what the credits say. So quit trying to look like you know something more than the rest of us. You don't.

And, my comment wasn't even meant as a criticism anyway. Given that someone else wrote the episode, I took that scene to mean something else--that it wasn't meant as a joke but an honest to goodness look at how tough those letters are to write.